Starry Rocket
by The Queen of Double Standards
Summary: "Let's set off fireworks, though that's out-of-season." Rin and Gumi both have a crush on him, and, tonight, on New Year's Eve, is the perfect time to confess. But do they really want to risk their friendship, all for one boy?


**Starry Rocket**

"I really want to talk to you about something," Rin ventured, tugging on his sleeve as their group of friends headed over to Gumi's house. The snow fell gently on the group. Gakupo, Len, and Miku walked ahead of him and Rin, laughing at some joke the two hadn't heard. Rin had suggested they go light fireworks for the New Year, and everyone had been onboard. They hadn't asked Gumi yet, but they were on their way to.

"Sure, what is it, Rin?" he wondered, smiling kindly down on her. She opened her mouth, prepared to confess, when he abruptly said, "Hold it for a sec, 'kay?"

"Fine," Rin mumbled, annoyed now that she had the time to think about it as the group came to a halt in front of Gumi's house. He took out his phone and looked up at the window, holding it to his ear. Rin resisted the urge to pout. Gumi had won this round without even trying.

Gumi, sitting on the bench beside her window, glanced down at her vibrating phone. Her face lit up when she saw who it was. She quickly flipped the phone open and chirped, "Hey, what's up?"

"Let's set off fireworks, though that's out-of-season," he suggested right off the bat, not bothering to even say hello. Gumi laughed. He really could be impulsive sometimes. Didn't he know fireworks were meant to be set off for Christmas in this town, not New Year's?

"You're crazy. No one's going to want to light fireworks with us," she reasoned.

"Look out the window."

Gumi's heart sped up. Of course she knew what he was implying. The swiftly spun around, phone to her ear, she spun around, smiling fondly when she saw him. She put her hand against the cold glass of the window, trying to get closer to him.

Rin looked up at Gumi, a little upset at seeing the cheerful expressions and the secret conversation being shared between her and him. She then turned her gaze to him, looking up at him to see if he'd look at her. Her cheek twitched as she resisted frowning when he didn't, but she decided to blame it on the cold, instead. She couldn't let herself get down. For once, he was close enough for her to confess. She was sure she'd do it tonight. It was now or never.

Gumi rushed to put her arms into her coat and stuffed a pink tuque on her head,. She shoved her socked feet into boots and dashed out into the snow, braving the fluffy flakes that pelted her face to run over to him. She considered hugging him like she usually did, but it didn't seem fair with Rin here, obviously vying for his attention. Rin wasn't the type to so easily express her emotions, unlike Gumi. So, in a last minute change of plans, Gumi swept the blonde girl into a hug. The girl remained silent and stiff.

"Heya, Rin-Rin, what's up?" she wondered.

"Hey, why don't I get greeted like that?" Gakupo joked, mock-pouting.

Gumi laughed and released Rin, jumping over a little pile of snow to hug Gakupo in response. "Okay, hugs for Gakkun, then."

Their friends, minus straight-faced Rin, laughed, and the blonde said, "We should really head out if we want to shot them for midnight."

"What was it you wanted to talk about, Rin?" he asked her, smiling kindly.

Rin kicked some snow at her feet and stated, "Never mind, I'll tell you later. Let's just go."

"Rin-Rin's such a goof sometimes," Gumi laughed, swinging up on his left while Rin clung to his right.

The group joked as they walked, but Gumi and Rin were both focussed on him. Gumi's hand hovered nervously in the space between her and him. He was so close. She stared at his hand, just a little away, and wanted to take it in her own, but that small distance seemed was too far, not yet close enough to touch. Gumi peered around him at Rin, who seemed to be having the same trouble and who stared at her in return, both of them trying to figure out what they should do. As they stared, he pulled ahead of them both to lead the group. They watched his back and continued walking, suddenly feeling as though their hands were a lot more empty.

"So close," Gumi cursed quietly, smiling at Rin.

"No matter how close he seems to be, he's always still so far away," Rin replied in her monotone voice, staring at him as Gumi watched her.

The two smitten girls turned their gazes to him, wishing to hold his hand or simply tell him how they felt, but, just like the stars sparkling beyond the clouds in the sky above them, he always stayed so far away.

He led them all to a rural, forest-like area that onlooked their town. It was surrounded by trees, though not many, and all the trees had fallen, replaced by snow and ice. Gumi and Rin pressed their stomachs against the railing that lined the precipice, stretching over as far as they could to stare out at their town.

"It's so pretty," Rin murmured. She pointed somewhere, drawing Gumi's attention to a park. He was busy discussing the skyrockets they'd bought with Miku, Gakupo, and Len, so Rin knew it was safe to speak freely with her friend. "That's where he and I met."

Rin had been sitting by herself, crying, when they'd met. He'd approached her and offered her a handkerchief. It had been the day Rin's father had walked out on her, and it had been very late on that winter night, so Rin had been frightened of him at first, trying to discover what he wanted from her. However, when she'd said nothing in reply and had simply stared at his offering, he hadn't pushed himself on her. He'd simply taken a seat on the swing beside her and sat their silently. She'd ignored him for the most part, but she was very conscious of his presence, and it comforted her. When she'd stood up to leave, she'd looked back and asked him if he was coming. He'd smiled and followed her.

"Every time someone sheds a tear, a star is born in the night sky," Rin murmured, smiling gently. "That's what he told me."

Gumi, in return, pointed toward a middle school. "That's where I met him," she offered. "Out in the back, in the field."

Gumi, too, had been sitting by herself, only she'd been cross-legged on that crunchy frost-bitten grass, a book splayed open in front of her as she read. Her house, filled with her large family, had been much too noisy to concentrate, so she'd slipped out and had begun to read here. It was nearly sunset when he approached her, drawn in by the laughter he'd heard from inside the school. He'd come out to her and asked what she was laughing about or what she was doing. She'd grabbed his arm and tugged him onto the ground, pointing to a particularly funny scene in the book and ordering him to read it. He'd laughed and done as she'd said. They'd continued reading together and laughed until it was too dark to read. When she'd brushed off her skirt, preparing to leave, she'd requested that they do it again some time. He'd smiled and agreed.

"Every time someone laughs, a star glitters in the night sky," Gumi stated, smiling fondly. "That's what he told me."

"Then he introduced us," Rin continued.

"And now Rin-Rin is my best friend!" Gumi proclaimed, grabbing the smaller girl into a hug, cuddling the blonde's head while the smaller girl tolerated it.

"C'mon, guys, let's light up this sky!" said Len, pumping his first in the air to attempt to motivate the girls as they peered back at him from their position at the railing, too caught up in their thoughts to care much for anyone else.

"I think a red one would be good," the objection of their affections said, shuffling through the fireworks.

Gumi and Rin exchanged a glance before beginning to riffle through the fireworks that had been brought, Gumi grabbing one with green sparks and Rin grabbing one with yellow. She'd been required to steal it from Len, but that was alright.

Gumi breathed into her freezing hands, attempting to warm them up. Rin handed her a lighter. Gumi peered over to where Gakupo and Miku were setting off a firework and copied them. She placed it on the ground beside the one Rin had set down, aiming it up above the town and being sure no one was in its path, and ignited the fuse, quickly stepping away to where Rin waited, grabbing the smaller girl by the fireworks and crying out in joy as the yellow and green skyrockets shot off into the air. She smiled down at Rin to see if she'd enjoyed it, but Rin hadn't been watching. Instead, she was gazing at him as he and Len set off another skyrocket, a bright red one. It didn't mean much to her how beautiful the fireworks were if he wasn't watching. She wished he'd turn this way. Gumi, on thinking about it, felt the same. These fireworks meant nothing to either of them. What they really wanted was to spend time with him.

Rin placed another firework where her old one had been and murmured, "Let my feelings reach that always-distant star."

Gumi smiled and Rin gazed at her expectantly. Rin wanted her to do the same. It made Gumi both happy and sad. Rin would never try to sabotage her, even if they were romantic rivals. She wanted them to both have an equal chance. They were best friends, after all. Gumi placed her firework beside Rin's and murmured, "Because I myself can't seem to reach you, let this skyrocket do it for me."

This time, Rin lit the fuses, and the two stumbled back to watch their feelings fly off into the air. They looked at him and smiled as he laughed joyously, seeing their fireworks in the sky.

"It's not like I believe is magic or fate or any of that stuff," Rin murmured. "But it's like he knew that those fireworks were the ones meant for him, right?"

"Right," Gumi agreed whole-heartedly.

Rin took a deep breath and smiled. "It's like, finally, he can see me."

Gumi peered at her friend with a curious smile, wondering if she was understanding her correctly. "Do you mean that you're ready to tell him?"

"Now's perfect," Rin stated, looking up at her friend. "He has to choose one of us eventually, right? Why not now, when we can seal it with a kiss at midnight for New Year's?"

The girls smiled at each other, took a deep breath, and called out his name, drawing his attention immediately to them as he laughed and came over to them.

"What's with you two tonight?" he laughed.

Finally, now, in this moment, Rin felt she could say it. She beamed at him, startling both him and Gumi, because they'd never truly seen Rin smile before, especially not so joyfully. With that smile, she told him, her breath forming white clouds in the air, "I love you."

He opened his mouth in an attempt to say something before closing it again, so shocked that he couldn't speak, his face going bright red. He stopped when a dead skyrocket hit his coat, bouncing off him and falling to the ground. He looked at the grinning Gumi, who'd been the one to throw it at him.

"Don't forget about me, now," Gumi requested. "I love you, too. But you can only have one of us, so you gotta choose now, okay?"

He couldn't reply. He stayed silent for a moment before slowly reaching down, taking the dead skyrocket in his hand before straightening himself back up, obviously in deep, troubled thought. Rin and Gumi stared at him, terrified for his answer but needing so terribly to hear it. After another silent moment, he laughed bashfully and opened his mouth. Gumi froze and requested, "Wait." His brow furrowed, perplexed, but he obliged, closing his mouth and looking at her curiously.

Rin's heart, just as it was for Gumi, was beating a mile a minute, but she felt a strange relief when Gumi cut him off. Gumi linked arms with Rin and said, "I don't want you to choose. There's no way you can make the right choice, anyway. I love Rin too much to let you choose. I don't want to risk losing her." She smiled down at the other girl. "Let's go light some more fireworks, okay, Rin-Rin?"

Rin, quietly, nodded, holding on tightly to the greenette. She didn't want to lose Gumi, ever, even if it meant she had to lose him. She looked at him. He looked totally lost by Gumi's swinging attitude, but that was what Rin loved so much about her. Rin smiled at him. At least, finally, she'd been able to tell him.

With that, Miku, Gakupo, Len, Gumi, Rin, and him lit fireworks the entire night, filling the sky with red, yellow, and green, reaching forever for that unreachable star.

**Author's Note: My last upload of 2011! I'll see you all in 2012! I plan on doing every single Gumi and Rin song out there, just so you know. I'm currently working on Chemical Emotion (I'll post it once I'm done, though), and I'll also be doing Pieces of Dreams and Beginning of Dream, and then Canvas Dream once I can find a translation for it. Those are the only ones I know. Are there any other Gumi and Rin songs out there that you know of? By the by, I need a translation of Beginning of Dream before I can start working on Pieces of Dreams so if you know anyone who can translate, please nag them on my behalf. Oh, and, I'll be back to regular updating in the new year but my life has been kind of messy. So, review please!**


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